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March 2, 2006

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Fashion Debate

By | March 2, 2006

Even the most saavy of fashionistas disagree on a style or two, and Joanna and I just can’t seem to come to terms on the following two style issues:

Cargo Pants

Maria: These gems are truly horrific. I cannot bear to see any girl (and most guys for that matter) wearing oversized army fatigue-type pants. Not only do they make you look misshapen, you look like GI Jane! Why accent the thighs you know you hate with gigantic pockets that stick out? Even worse are the hundreds of little snaps, clasps and strings that cinch and strap down each and every unnecessary strip of fabric. Abercrombie’s lame attempt at femme-ing up these horrors with strings of shells and giant belts truly tempts my gag reflex. Just give up trying to revive the ten year dead trend. These pants will never grace the inside of my closet and I hope they will never be in yours.

Joanna: As most of you are well aware, this spring season has been heavily influenced by military-inspired wear. Now, I’m not referring to head-to-toe camo (yuck), but I am specifically alluding to those updated, cute new cargo capris that are currently a very hot trend. These pants manage to be flirty, fun, and feminine without trying too hard. They also have just the right touch of tomboy, making these pants extremely versatile and a fresh new addition to your spring wardrobe. These pants easily transcend style boundaries and can be worn either to class or to the club. Paired with a tee and flip-flops, these pants look cute, casual, and comfortable. However, wearing them with a sexy halter and pointed kitten heels also looks incredibly chic. I happen to think that the pants from Abercrombie are adorable and casual, and not the least bit frumpy. This trend definitely deserves to stay.

Long Island Clubbers

Maria: I fully understand the reason why some may be completely opposed to the slicked up, primped and tanned look that almost every club-hopping Long Island guy is sporting lately. If you look closely at this native species of LI you will notice the impeccable dresser beneath the mobster wannabe fa

Related

Newton Discusses Hussein Trial

By March 3, 2006

The Iraqi Higher Criminal Tribunal is currently trying Saddam Hussein. The trial, however, is about much more than the conviction of one man. The trial, according to Prof. Michael Newton, law, Vanderbilt “is to reestablish the rule of law in Iraq.”
Professor Newton delivered his speech, “Lawyering in Baghdad: Democratic Principles and International Law in Iraq” yesterday in Myron Taylor Hall. Newton helped draft the Statute for the Iraqi Special Tribunal, and he also taught international law to the jurists and lawyers who served on the special tribunal.
Newton spent much of the lecture explaining the way in which the tribunal balances international and national law. This balance exists so that Iraqis can benefit from existing international legal guidelines, while still upholding their own legal culture. Newton described the fusion as “an internationalized domestic court.”
The international part of the tribunal comes from the International Crimes Court (ICC), which was created in 1998. The ICC is an international court in which individuals are prosecuted for “the world’s gravest crimes.” According to the court, these crimes are genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. For each of these crimes, the court has laid out specific definitions.
Neither Iraq nor America signed the treaty that created the Court, so, according to Newton, the ICC “does not have jurisdiction” to try Saddam Hussein. Nevertheless, the Iraqi tribunal used the ICC as a template for its own trial. Namely, the Iraqi Tribunal used the ICC’s definitions for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes to identify its charges against Hussein.
The Iraqi tribunal also added three more charges, not defined by the ICC, against Saddam Hussein. The charges are: manipulating the judicial system, the destruction of Iraqi oil and waste of natural resources and the abuse and pursuit of policies that may lead to war. These three additional charges represent a domestic component of the tribunal.
According to Newton, the domestic component of the trial is essential. Without it, he believes the trial would lack legitimacy, because it would ignore Iraqi customs and culture. “You have to start with that context, those people, that culture and build from there … if you don’t do that, what’s the point,” he said.
Iraq’s long tradition with the law, said Newton, affords them the right to try Hussein on, in part, its own legal terms.
“Don’t make the mistake of saying we know the law and they don’t” warned Newton. Newton cited Baghdad’s acclaimed law school and the country’s reverence for Hammurabi, the world’s first lawmaker, as examples of Iraq’s “rich legal tradition”
Despite its “rich legal tradition,” language barriers have, in the past, separated Iraq from the legal traditions of the West. Iraqi scholars cannot read some of the greatest international law cases, because they cannot read French or English. Thus, there is a great gap between the sea of existing legal knowledge and the legal knowledge that Iraqis have access to.
Consequently, many Iraqis hope that Hussein’s trial will leave the same sort of legacy that past war crime trials such as Nuremberg have left. The hope, said Newton, is that the Arab world will now have its own great legal precedent.
“[Iraqis are] powerfully infused with a sense that they are a doorway to the wider world” said Newton.
Christian Eckart grad was hesitant to accept Iraq’s ability to successfully adapt international law.
“They’ve never adapted international law” said Eckart, “So can they do it? Can they ensure a fair trial, because that’s what international norms request?”
Joery Matthys, a visiting scholar, had his own reservations. Although Matthys recognized that the tribunal could not have been tried under the ICC, he said he wished it could have been.
“I was glad to hear that a lot of elements for ICC were incorporated, but it would have been more interesting for the ICC to try it,” said Matthys.
Archived article by Lauren HirschSun Staff Writer
Backspace: John Hassell '91

By March 3, 2006

Article body:
Backspace has appeared biweekly throughout the school year in commemoration of The Sun’s 125th Anniversary. Honoring not only the history of The Cornell Daily Sun but also the role it played in major campus events throughout the years, each column has featured a different writer chronicling a different era of Cornell’s lively history.